Given that I’m back to work tomorrow morning, and a return to some sort of normality, I just wanted to record a few personal goals I’m aiming for this year.
1. Read More
Thanks to an excellent Christmas present from my brother, I already have two books to get me started: ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ by Milan Kundera, and ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arunghati Roy. There are a number of reasons I want to get into literature but mainly as I’m feeling totally uncultured these days. That and my vocabulary seems to becoming more and more limited as I get older, and hopefully this will improve that situation. I also want to read more about some of my favourite subjects including various aspects of 20th Century history.
2. Learn More About My Profession
I can’t help feeling that since I left university I have stopped reading around the subject of design, and as a result my work has become uninspired. Time to start visiting museums and art galleries in the area! I also really need to start getting a grip on at least the basics of this JavaScript and DOM malarkey which I have been putting of for far too long now.
3. Take More Photos
This is partly the reason why I was so interested in taking part in Project 365. Looking back on my photos from last year, there seemed to be a lot of events I missed and now wish I had captured on film. Also as part of this goal, is the need to start taking more pictures of people, especially my friends. I know that a lot of my photographs tends to focus on landscapes and objects—partly through a fear of aiming my camera lens at people.
4. Blog More
As you may already have guessed, another thing I want to increase is the output from this blog. I tend to have so many thoughts and stories to tell, but very few of them actually make it to this site. Another part of this goal is allowing my friends to be guest authors, and hopefully the first of such entries should appear shortly.
5. Improve My Fitness
Whilst this is probably on most people’s list of new year resolutions, for me this goal is entirely possible, especially given the fact I started it before Christmas, when I was visiting the gym at least 4 times a week. The gym membership already exists, as does a programme to follow, so it’s just a matter of continuing where I left off!
6. Enjoy More Mornings
I always say this and always seem to fail in my attempt to get up earlier in the mornings than I do. This year, I’m aiming to at least have one day of each weekend, where I get up early, and enjoy the cool Californian sunshine whilst I still have it to enjoy.
7. Create My Own Opportunities
This is the big one.
If I learnt anything from last year, it was that I have within me the ability to actually make things happen, rather than just let them happen for me. I remember my mantra at the beginning of 2006 was ‘go with the flow’, and whilst that may have helped me in the short term, towards the end of the year it got me into a lot of trouble and heartache.
The first day of this year actually began with a stark reminder that I shouldn’t go with the flow, whilst the second day demonstrated how much fun life can be when you make things happen.